Laws was walking to his new job, cleaning a laundromat after high school. He walked alone. His path took him through an unfamiliar suburban neighborhood. He'd studied the maps, and noted the street signs, and was pretty sure he was going the right way. Spring was bursting. Trees blossomed white and grass grew green and fluffy clouds tumbled over each other in the deep blue sky. He hardly needed his coat.
The suburban houses stood expressionless in their yards, neither happy nor sad. Not run down and not flamboyant, just putting forth an impassively boring front. Who lived in them? Were they interesting? Were people in them at all? He couldn't tell. Certainly nobody was out, despite the excellent weather.
Laws watched the sidewalk as his long loping stride carried him along. The concrete was warm and dry under the spring sun, easy walking, much different from the ice-covered treachery of the winter. He made an effort to avoid the cracks separating the cement tiles. I'm not stepping awkwardly, he told himself, I just happen to have a stride that never actually hits a crack. Step step, step, step step, step, step step, aw this step has to hit a crack, well I'm not really avoiding cracks, it was just coincidence like I said that I was missing them before.
Ahead of him was a girl his age, also walking home from school, but a little slower.
Laws didn't recognize her. She had a backpack carrying books. A short brown ponytail. Was she in the next grade? Or the one before? Or maybe his grade, and he hadn't noticed? There were hundreds in his grade. Some weren't in any of his classes. Laws wasn't very good at faces anyhow. He couldn't see her face yet. He was pretty sure he didn't recognize her though. He strode a little faster, closing the distance.
Should he say something to her? What should he say? Hello, of course, but maybe he should say more? Maybe she'd be chatty and would talk to him and it wouldn't be difficult. Wow, if he could walk to work with a pretty girl, wow. Maybe he should talk to her about something. She had blue tennis shoes. That's not very interesting. He was stepping on lots of cracks now, and not paying any attention at all, he told himself.
The space between the two of them was closing. Maybe she'd like talking to him? Wow. Should he walk slower to stay with her, even if it meant taking longer to get to work?
He approached. Just a few more seconds and he'd pass. He took the left side, she was on the right. "Hi," he said as he passed. She had slowed down. She was watching the ground, giving no recognition of him being there. No he didn't recognize her. Should he slow down to stay with her? She was going MUCH slower than him, only a third of his hurried pace.
Laws slowed down to a little less than his normal pace, but kept walking, and that was more than enough to leave her behind. Should he turn around and wait for her? No that would be really awkward. He did not look back. She'd slowed down on purpose, Laws realized, to avoid interacting with him. Who was she? Had he seen her anywhere before? Now he did look back to get a better look at her. She was still watching her feet and was far back now. No, she didn't ring a bell. Laws realized that she HAD interacted. It was just that her interaction was to actively avoiding interacting. He would have liked to talk to her, but it seemed she didn't want to talk to him.
On future walks to work Laws did not see her again. Perhaps she'd adjusted her walk to take a different way home.